GUESTWICK is a scattered village and parish with a station on the Eastern and Midlands railway and 4 noth-west from Reepham station on the Great Eastern railway, in the Northern division of the county, Eynsford hundred, Aylsham union and county court district, rural deanery of Sparham and archdeaconry and diocese of Norwich. The church of St. Peter is a stone building, in the Early English style, and has chancel, nave, aisles, south porch and a very ancient square tower, which formed part of an earlier edifice which stood partly on a different site: it now stands at the east end of the north aisle, joining the chancel, built of Hunstanton rock stone, but it is to be observed that this belonged to the old church, built in a cathedral or conventual manner, and was in the middle, between the nave and choir, with arches to pass through; at the east end of the north aisle are two noble Norman arches. The register dates from the year 1558. The living is a vicarage, yearly value, rent charge £88, and 23½ acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of Lieut.-Col. W. E. G. Lytton Bulwer, of Heydon Hall, and held since 1861 by the Rev. Richard Gilbert M.A. of St. Catherine's College, Cambridge. Here is a Congregational chapel, founded in 1652, which was repaired and partly rebuilt in 1840; it has a burial ground attached, and also a minister's house. There is a charity of 20s. yearly, the foundation of a clothing club. Col. W. E. G. Lytton Bulwer is lord of the manor and chef landowner. The Marquis of Salisbury and James Gay esq. have also land in this parish. The soil is clay and loam; subsoil clay and marl. The chief crops are what, toots, barley and hay. The area is 1,646 acres; rateable value £2,178; and the population in 1881 was 183.
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POST OFFICE & for the registration of letters, Samuel Porrett, received. Letters received through East Dereham, arrive at 8.30 a.m. on weekdays & sundays; dispatched at 4.10 p.m. weekdays & sundays. The nearest money order & telegraph office is at Foulsham
Parochial School, Miss Chapman, mistress
Railway Station, Thomas Mills, station master
© Transcribed by E.C.Apling, July 1999.
Historical
comment Letter to Eastern Daily Press
1891
Census Names Index
1841
Census Surnames Index [Honor Jones]
White's
1854 Directory entry
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